I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

Chapter 16: Fairness! Justice!

With the Royal Capital finalizing the concrete plan for dispatching troops, the various territories of the kingdom began simultaneously spreading propaganda about the Astal territory’s rebellion at the border to build momentum before the war.

The kingdom was about to organize a great army to pacify the rebellion and rescue the civilians deceived by the Astal Family.

At the same time, it announced the stripping of the Astal Family’s marquis title, abolishing their legal authority to govern the land.

The Church, in the name of the Goddess of Magic, also declared the Astal Family as heretics, ordering the believers within their territory to launch uprisings and overturn the dark rule of the heretics...

This was a standard three-step combo—military, political, and religious strikes in one—striking at the Astal Family’s prestige from multiple fronts while bestowing righteousness upon the kingdom’s army.

The Astal territory remained silent in response, though even if they spoke, other territories would never let their voice be heard.

Churches across towns under Astal’s rule had just begun stirring up the common folk, only to be promptly shut down by the local garrisons who invited them back “for tea.”

Naturally, some civilians tried to block them, but under the army’s reassurance, most believers of the Goddess showed no strong resistance.

In the past years, Mitia had sent troops regularly to help civilians reclaim wasteland and harvest grain, gradually overturning the common stereotype of the army as arrogant lords.

Moreover, the recruits she enlisted now were all children from ordinary families—no nobles, no private soldiers.

Being of the same humble origin, the relationship between the army and the people was harmonious.

This was the benefit of benevolent governance.

The more oppressed and desperate an environment, the more extreme and fanatical faith would become.

On the contrary, in relatively stable, secure places where people did not lack food or clothing, such tactics had little effect.

Mitia was not going to sit back and take blows.

She immediately raised her banner:

“Equality! Justice!”

A brand-new territorial law, with posters plastered across every street and alley:

Equality without discrimination, justice without favoritism.

Everyone had land to farm, everyone had food to eat.

Nobles had no privileges, commoners had dignity.

All noble privileges were abolished.

Noble titles were honorary only—no material rewards, no special rights, no political advantages, no inheritance.

Slavery was abolished.

Everyone within Astal territory was a citizen, enjoying equal rights and obligations.

In society, politics, economy, and law, nobles and commoners enjoyed equal treatment.

Decisions were made fairly, and equal cases received equal treatment.

As soldiers loudly read the decrees, the surrounding onlookers instantly erupted into cheers, rushing to spread the news.

Mitia had been practicing these policies all along, only now announcing them across the territory when the timing was ripe to deepen the people’s impression and carve the truth into their hearts.

At the same time, she secretly spread the idea that if Astal territory was defeated, the exiled petty noble landlords would surely return, reclaiming everything the people now possessed.

How could ordinary folk who had just secured a foothold, or former slaves who had just tasted freedom, accept such an outcome? Furious, they gathered together to march, sparking a wave of protests against the kingdom’s meddling in Astal affairs.

The movement quickly grew, and the slogans gradually evolved:

Oppose all forms of oppression! Oppose landlord privileges! Oppose the invasion of the Kingdom of Ovinia!

The policies and slogans Mitia launched struck precisely at the most practical pains of the masses.

Ordinary people did not need privileges, nor pies falling from the sky.

All they wanted was fairness—everything else they would earn with their own hands.

And this was precisely what could never exist under a noble system.

The system Mitia now enforced only distributed means of production.

The territory bought grain from farmers at market price for reserves, controlling food prices.

As for the downstream farmland, she did not interfere.

Taxes were reduced to the minimum.

She did not seize the means of production, ensuring to the greatest extent that “you reap as much as you sow.”

Of course, this applied only to grain and land for now.

But even that was already enough.

From the perspective of this world, most other concepts did not yet exist and could not even be imagined.

Mitia had been doing this for nearly five years.

Ordinary people within the territory were long accustomed to the benefits of such a system, all being beneficiaries of the new policies.

In this hopeful situation, if Mitia suddenly announced that the kingdom wanted to invade and restore the old system, it would be strange if the people did not panic and rage.

Outside, the demonstrations grew louder and larger.

Inside the Astal manor, life remained calm as usual.

Losing the marquis title had no impact on their household.

There had never been slaves in the manor.

The maids and servants were all salaried.

Influenced by Mitia for years, Eliza and the others had long accepted her ideals.

Mitia paid no attention to the commotion outside.

At that moment, she was holding a longsword, sparring with little Coy.

“Don’t let your wrist shake—grip tight! If you can’t even hold a sword steady, how will you protect your sister in the future?”

“Use your strength! Didn’t you eat?”

“Thrust! Don’t hesitate!”

“But... I’m afraid of hurting you, sister.”

Hearing this, Mitia burst out laughing: “Ha! Coy, don’t you start daydreaming in broad daylight. To hurt me, even ten more years won’t be enough.”

As she spoke, she applied a bit more force, and Coy was sent sitting onto the grass with a thump.

The little one pouted immediately, lips pointing to the sky: “Bad sister! You never go easy on me! I’m not playing with you anymore!”

Ignoring the little one rolling on the ground, hoping for hugs and kisses and to be lifted high, Mitia tossed the longsword to Betty nearby: “Boring. You keep playing with him.”

Betty nodded earnestly: “I’ll go easy on little brother Coy.”

Watching from the side, Eliza shook her head disapprovingly: “Betty, you can’t always go easy on him. Look at this brat—he’s even grown a little belly.”

Mitia, picking up a teacup as she walked over, added: “He does need to train. His arm strength is too weak. His shaky grip on the sword almost fanned me cool.”

Eliza burst into laughter: “Pfft... don’t make him cry. If he does, you’ll have to coax him yourself—I won’t help.”

Taking a sip of tea, Mitia shook her head: “From now on, there will only be honorary noble titles, no inheritance. His future will depend entirely on himself.”

“You could say that starting from his generation, everyone will briefly stand on the same starting line again. If he doesn’t work hard now, he’ll suffer plenty of blows later.”

Eliza grew worried at these words: “Are you sure this is alright? Giving them opportunities to rise—what if in the future we lose to them and suffer backlash...”

Mitia looked at her strangely: “Mother, you don’t actually believe that by not changing and maintaining things as they were, our family could really pass down for thousands of years, do you?”

Eliza blinked in confusion: “Ah?”

Mitia patiently explained: “No matter how wise a person is, they cannot know what the family will be like three generations later—whether a wastrel might appear.”

“The reason I abolished the hereditary nature of noble titles is to ensure the family always faces competitive pressure, so they cannot lie on the achievements of their ancestors and live in corruption.”

“The most important point is that since I’m the one who set this precedent, if Coy’s descendants one day truly prove incapable... then at worst, the Astal Family will decline. But it will never face extermination.”

Eliza swallowed nervously.

“If we were still like before, holding great power as nobles, and if one day our family produced a foolish, cruel head of house—if the people beneath us overthrew his rule, what do you think the outcome would be?”